Public health authorities in the UK are calling on parents to ensure their children get the MMR vaccine after a measles outbreak in Leeds and Liverpool, reports The Guardian. Officials said they believed the virus was brought back from mainland Europe, where there had been recent outbreaks, and was being spread among children in schools and nurseries.
“This serves as an important reminder for parents to take up the offer of MMR vaccination for their children when offered at one year of age and as a pre-school booster at three years, four months of age,” said Dr Mary Ramsay, the head of immunisation at Public Health England. “If children and young adults have missed these vaccinations in the past, it’s important to take up the vaccine now from GPs, particularly in light of the recent cases in Liverpool and Leeds.”
She said the outbreaks were being managed by local health protection teams and all of the cases were in children and young adults who had not received the MMR vaccine.
“Although the UK recently achieved World Health Organisation (WHO) measles elimination status, due to ongoing measles outbreaks within Europe, we will continue to see imported measles cases in the UK in un-immunised individuals and limited onward spread can occur in communities with low MMR coverage and in age groups with very close mixing. We’d also encourage anyone to ensure they have the MMR jab before travelling to countries with ongoing measles outbreaks, like Romania, Italy and Germany.”
Public Health England is quoted in the report as saying it believed the UK had high levels of innoculation. Last year, it estimated 95% of children got the first dose, which partially protects them, and 87% of that group went on to get the second dose, which provides full immunity. However, those figures include neither adults, nor children born this year. It said measles was a highly infectious virus and advised anyone with symptoms to stay at home and phone their GP or NHS 111, rather than visiting their surgery or A&E, to prevent the illness spreading further.
[link url="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/24/call-for-all-children-to-receive-mmr-vaccine-after-measles-outbreak"]The Guardian report[/link]